Infection control is one of the safest research areas a nursing student can choose. The problem is real, the data is plentiful, and almost every clinical placement gives you a setting to study. According to the CDC’s healthcare-associated infection data, on any given day about 1 in 31 US hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection (HAI).
The global picture is wider still. The WHO Global Report on Infection Prevention and Control 2024 found that 71% of countries now run an active IPC programme, yet only 6% met all of WHO’s minimum requirements. That gap between policy and practice is exactly where good student research lives.
This guide gives you 120+ infection control research topics, grouped by area and by degree level. You’ll also see how to turn a topic into a PICOT question and which methods fit each type of study. If you want a wider list first, start with our nursing dissertation topics guide, or see patient safety research topics for the broader safety field.
How to Choose an Infection Control Research Topic
A strong topic is narrow, measurable and doable with the access you have. Use these five checks before you commit.
- Start from a practice gap you’ve seen. Missed hand hygiene before patient contact, catheters left in too long, or inconsistent PPE use on your unit are all researchable problems. Our guide to standard precautions in healthcare is a quick refresher on what “correct practice” looks like.
- Pick one infection type or one practice. “Reducing HAIs” is too broad. “Nurse-led catheter removal protocols and CAUTI rates in medical wards” is a dissertation.
- Check your data access early. Infection rates, audit scores and surveillance data often need ethics approval and a hospital data agreement. Surveys of nurses’ knowledge and attitudes are easier to run.
- Match the topic to your degree level. Undergraduate projects usually review literature. DNP projects implement and evaluate a change. PhD studies test or build theory.
- Align with current priorities. In its 2024 agenda, APIC’s Center for Research, Practice & Innovation named infection preventionist staffing models and better hand hygiene data collection among its first research priorities. Topics that answer a recognized gap are easier to justify in your proposal.
Infection Control Research Topics by Category
Each list below is written as a working title. Narrow the setting, population or time frame to fit your project.
Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) Research Topics
- Effect of nurse-driven catheter removal protocols on CAUTI rates in adult medical wards
- Central line bundle compliance and CLABSI incidence in intensive care units
- Daily chlorhexidine bathing and bloodstream infection rates in ICU patients
- Oral care protocols and ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention
- Head-of-bed elevation compliance and VAP outcomes in mechanically ventilated adults
- Preoperative skin antisepsis methods and surgical site infection rates
- Perioperative normothermia and SSI risk after colorectal surgery
- Peripheral IV dwell time and phlebitis or bloodstream infection risk
- Nurses’ knowledge of CAUTI prevention guidelines in long-term care
- Cost of HAIs to hospitals and the return on nurse-led prevention programs
- HAI rates before and after implementing standardized care bundles
- Patient-reported experiences of acquiring an infection during hospitalization
Hand Hygiene Research Topics
- Hand hygiene compliance before and after an education campaign on the WHO 5 Moments for Hand Hygiene
- Direct observation versus electronic monitoring for measuring hand hygiene compliance
- The Hawthorne effect in hand hygiene audits
- Alcohol-based hand rub placement and point-of-care compliance
- Barriers to hand hygiene among nurses during high-workload shifts
- Skin irritation and dermatitis as a barrier to hand hygiene adherence
- Patient empowerment programs that prompt staff to clean their hands
- Hand hygiene compliance among nursing students on clinical placement
- Surgical hand scrub versus alcohol-based surgical hand rub: compliance and outcomes
- Visitor and family hand hygiene behavior in pediatric wards
PPE and Isolation Precautions Research Topics
- Nurses’ adherence to correct PPE donning and doffing sequences
- Self-contamination during PPE removal: a simulation study
- Contact precautions and patient satisfaction, falls and adverse events
- Discontinuing contact precautions for MRSA and VRE: effect on transmission rates
- Glove overuse and its effect on hand hygiene compliance
- N95 respirator fit testing and compliance among frontline nurses
- PPE shortages and nurses’ moral distress during respiratory outbreaks
- Isolation and its psychological effects on hospitalized patients
- Signage design and visitor compliance with isolation precautions
- Training methods for transmission-based precautions: simulation versus e-learning
Antimicrobial Resistance and Stewardship Research Topics
- The nurse’s role in antimicrobial stewardship programs
- Nurses’ knowledge of antibiotic therapy and resistance in acute care
- Antibiotic time-out practices at 48 to 72 hours and duration of therapy
- Nurse-led IV-to-oral antibiotic switch protocols
- Accuracy of penicillin allergy labels and their effect on antibiotic choice
- Culture collection before empiric antibiotic therapy in suspected sepsis
- Vancomycin trough monitoring practices and nephrotoxicity
- Patient education on antibiotic use after discharge
- Antibiotic prescribing in nursing homes and resistance patterns
- Public awareness of antimicrobial resistance in community settings
MDRO and C. difficile Research Topics
- MRSA screening on admission and decolonization outcomes
- Risk factors for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) colonization
- Environmental cleaning with sporicidal agents and C. difficile rates
- Nurse-driven C. difficile testing protocols and overdiagnosis
- Probiotic use and C. difficile prevention in hospitalized adults
- VRE transmission in shared hospital rooms
- Candida auris preparedness among infection prevention teams
- Patient flagging systems for MDRO carriers in electronic records
- Readmission and mortality outcomes for patients with MDRO infections
- Nurses’ attitudes toward caring for patients colonized with MDROs
Environmental Cleaning, Asepsis and Sterilization Topics
- Fluorescent marker audits and cleaning thoroughness on high-touch surfaces
- UV-C disinfection as an adjunct to manual terminal cleaning
- Contamination of shared equipment such as stethoscopes, tablets and phones
- Compliance with aseptic technique during wound care
- Knowledge of surgical versus medical asepsis among new graduate nurses
- Sterile field breaches in the operating room and AORN sterile field guidelines
- Reprocessing of flexible endoscopes and contamination risk
- Hospital water systems, sinks and drains as reservoirs for gram-negative bacteria
- Environmental services staff training and HAI outcomes
- Single-use versus reusable devices: infection risk and sustainability
Surveillance, Data and Technology Research Topics
- Accuracy of automated HAI surveillance compared with manual chart review
- Use of CDC NHSN data to benchmark hospital infection performance
- Electronic hand hygiene monitoring systems and staff acceptance
- Predictive models for identifying patients at high risk of sepsis or HAI
- Electronic health record alerts for catheter removal and CAUTI rates
- Public reporting of infection rates and hospital improvement
- Mobile apps for infection control education and audit
- Data quality problems in infection surveillance in low-resource settings
- Whole genome sequencing for outbreak detection: implications for nursing practice
- Artificial intelligence in infection prevention: nurses’ readiness and concerns. For related ideas, see our nursing informatics research topics.
Education, Behavior and Safety Culture Topics
- Simulation-based training and infection control competency among nursing students
- Knowledge, attitudes and practices of nurses toward infection prevention
- Peer feedback and just-in-time coaching for infection control compliance
- Infection control link nurse programs and unit-level outcomes
- Nurse manager leadership style and infection prevention culture
- Workload, staffing and missed infection control care
- Nurse burnout and adherence to infection prevention protocols
- Behavior change theory applied to hand hygiene interventions
- Infection preventionist staffing ratios and hospital HAI rates
- Integrating infection control content into undergraduate nursing curricula. Related: nursing education research topics.
Infection Control in Special Settings and Populations
- Infection prevention bundles in the ICU: compliance and outcomes (see also critical care nursing research topics)
- Late-onset sepsis prevention in neonatal intensive care units
- Breast milk handling and infection risk in the NICU
- Infection control in pediatric wards with family-centered care (more in pediatric nursing research topics)
- Infection prevention in nursing homes and long-term care facilities
- Influenza and COVID-19 vaccination uptake among long-term care staff
- Urinary tract infection overdiagnosis in older adults (see geriatric nursing research topics)
- Infection control in home health and community nursing
- Bloodstream infection prevention in hemodialysis units
- Infection prevention for immunocompromised oncology patients
- Labor and delivery: postpartum infection prevention practices
- Infection control in ambulatory surgery and outpatient clinics
Outbreaks, Emerging Infections and Global IPC Topics
- Lessons from COVID-19 for hospital infection prevention preparedness
- Nurses’ role in outbreak investigation and contact tracing
- Measles and pertussis exposure management in healthcare settings
- Readiness of emergency departments to identify highly infectious diseases
- Tuberculosis infection control in high-burden countries
- Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) gaps in health facilities in low- and middle-income countries
- Implementation of WHO IPC minimum requirements in district hospitals
- Infection risk for patients in low- and middle-income countries, where WHO reports the risk can be up to 20 times higher than in high-income countries
- Sharps injuries and bloodborne pathogen exposure among nurses
- Community infection prevention after mass gatherings or disasters (see community health nursing research topics)
Infection Control Research Topics by Degree Level
The same subject can be scaled up or down. These examples show what fits each level.
Undergraduate (BSN) and Capstone Topics
BSN papers and capstones usually review evidence or propose a small practice change. For more starting points, browse our nursing capstone project ideas.
- A literature review of hand hygiene interventions in acute care
- Evidence for chlorhexidine bathing in preventing CLABSI
- Nursing students’ knowledge of standard precautions: a survey
- Best practices for PPE removal: an evidence summary
- An education plan for reducing CAUTI on a medical-surgical unit
Master’s (MSN) Topics
- Effect of an infection control link nurse program on unit audit scores
- Predictors of hand hygiene compliance among ICU nurses
- Nurse leaders’ perceptions of barriers to antimicrobial stewardship
- Evaluating a PPE simulation module for new graduate nurses
- Infection control knowledge gaps among home health nurses
DNP Project Topics
DNP projects implement and evaluate an evidence-based change. See our DNP project ideas for how to scope one.
- Implementing a nurse-driven catheter removal protocol to reduce CAUTI
- A quality improvement project to raise central line bundle compliance
- Introducing an antibiotic time-out checklist on a hospital unit
- A sepsis screening and early culture protocol in the emergency department
- Reducing C. difficile testing of colonized patients through a nurse-driven algorithm
PhD Dissertation Topics
- A theory-based model of hand hygiene behavior among acute care nurses
- Organizational factors that predict HAI rates across hospitals: a multilevel analysis
- Long-term outcomes of patients who acquire MDRO infections in hospital
- Infection preventionist workforce models and patient outcomes
- Implementation science approaches to sustaining infection prevention bundles
From Topic to Research Question: PICOT Examples
A topic becomes researchable once it has a clear question. Most nursing programs use the PICOT format; our guide to PICOT questions in nursing explains each element.
- CAUTI: In adult medical-surgical patients with indwelling urinary catheters (P), does a nurse-driven removal protocol (I), compared with physician-ordered removal (C), reduce CAUTI rates (O) over six months (T)?
- Hand hygiene: Among ICU nurses (P), does real-time electronic feedback (I), compared with monthly audit reports (C), improve hand hygiene compliance (O) over 12 weeks (T)?
- Stewardship: In hospitalized adults on IV antibiotics (P), does a 48-hour antibiotic time-out checklist (I), compared with usual care (C), shorten antibiotic duration (O) during admission (T)?
Research Methods for Infection Control Studies
Your question decides the method. If you’re unsure which approach fits, read our comparison of qualitative and quantitative research in nursing.
| Study type | Example question | Typical analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Pre/post quality improvement | Did CAUTI rates fall after the new protocol? | Chi-square, run charts, interrupted time series |
| Cross-sectional survey | What predicts nurses’ PPE compliance? | Descriptive statistics, logistic regression |
| Knowledge and attitude survey | How well do students know standard precautions? | Likert scale analysis, t-tests, ANOVA |
| Cohort study | Do MDRO infections raise readmission risk? | Survival analysis, Cox regression |
| Qualitative study | What stops nurses cleaning their hands on busy shifts? | Thematic analysis, NVivo coding |
| Systematic review | Does chlorhexidine bathing prevent CLABSI? | Narrative synthesis or meta-analysis |
Before collecting data, run a power analysis so your sample is large enough to detect a real change in infection rates. Infection outcomes are often rare events, so small samples miss real effects.
Need Help Turning Your Infection Control Topic Into a Finished Paper?
Picking a topic is the easy part. Writing the proposal, getting the stats right and defending your findings take far longer. Our nurse researchers and statisticians support every stage:
- Proposal stage: nursing research proposal writing and literature reviews built on current CDC and WHO evidence
- Capstone and DNP projects: nursing capstone project help and DNP project help for quality improvement designs
- Full dissertations: nursing dissertation writing, DNP dissertation help and PhD dissertation help
- Data analysis: dissertation data analysis help and SPSS data analysis for infection rates, audit data and surveys
Get a free quote or check our pricing to get started today.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are good infection control research topics for nursing students?
Good starting topics include hand hygiene compliance, CAUTI and CLABSI prevention, PPE adherence, and nurses’ role in antimicrobial stewardship. Pick one infection or one practice and one setting so the project stays manageable.
What is the difference between infection control and infection prevention?
Infection prevention stops infections before they happen, through hand hygiene, vaccination and aseptic technique. Infection control limits spread once an infection exists, through isolation, surveillance and outbreak management. Most research now uses the combined term infection prevention and control (IPC).
Is infection control a good dissertation topic?
Yes. It has measurable outcomes, strong guideline support from CDC and WHO, and clear links to patient safety and cost. Data access is the main hurdle, so confirm what your placement or hospital can share before you commit.
Can I use infection control for a DNP project?
Yes, it’s one of the most common DNP project areas. Quality improvement projects such as catheter removal protocols, central line bundles or antibiotic time-outs fit the DNP model of implementing and evaluating evidence-based change.
What data sources can I use for infection control research?
Common sources include hospital infection surveillance records, unit audit scores, CDC NHSN reports, WHO IPC reports, and surveys or interviews with nurses. Secondary data from public reports avoids some ethics barriers but limits what you can control.
